Dolphins sign Ryan Fitzpatrick

According to multiple reports, the Dolphins have signed quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. The move comes after a week that saw the Dolphins trade Ryan Tannehill to the Titans and meet with Teddy Bridgewater about a deal before Bridgewater opted to re-sign in New Orleans.

Fitzpatrick opened last season as the starter in Tampa with Jameis Winston suspended and threw eight touchdowns in back-to-back wins. Fitzpatrick threw three touchdowns and three interceptions in a Week Three loss and then got benched in favor of the returning Winston during a 48-10 loss to the Bears the next week.

Winston was benched in Week Eight and Fitzpatrick made three more starts before returning to the bench for the rest of the year. He was 164-of-246 for 2,366 yards, 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions overall.

It was the 11th straight year Fitzpatrick started at least three games and he’s done it with six different teams. With Jake Rudock and Luke Falk the other quarterbacks on the Miami roster, he looks like he’ll have a good chance to add to both marks, although the draft and the rest of free agency could change that outlook.

Luke Falk is an elite QB and David Fales is a solid pro. Both are better than anyone the Dolphins have been playing the last few years. They’re both better than Fitzpatrick too. Sometimes guys like Tom Brady, a sixth round pick, and Kurt Warner, an undrafted free agent who bounced around from league to league, get an opportunity. Most of the time they don’t. It’s impossible to judge guys from practice reps or getting on the field for a couple plays. If you’re a high draft pick like Tannehill, you usually get several opportunities.

TruthfulDolphinsFanNotWearingBlinders says:
March 17, 2019 at 2:49 pm
No drop off whatsoever from Tannehill.
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It can be both a dropoff and a step up. Opposing teams do have to worty because they never know which Fitzpatrickwill show up that day. He has days where he plays at a brilliant level. But he also has days where he is atrocious. This inconsistency is why his career never took off. Its just that as far as inconsistent qbs out there his floor and ceiling are much farther apart than most with the ceiling being really high in his case.

This is tank for Tua year… Fitzpatrick is put there because they hope he becomes the interception machine he has been all these years… The way you know they are prepping for next year is in the Tannehill trade… they are getting a 7th round pick this year and a 4th round pick next year… better pick for next years draft… they are clearing cap space and prepping for next year… The Dolphins are projected to have more than $120 million in cap space and 10 draft picks for next year (so far)… so they don’t need to win this year, throw this year away!!!! “TANK FOR TUA” to start our destiny!!!!

Ryan Fitzpatrick would have been a starter in this league if not for his noodle arm that cannot last 16 games. He gets worse as the season goes along. He will do fine in Miami as a backup or tanking for Tua in 2020.

This is just news. Not Good or Bad. They need a veteran QB on the roster. It does not matter if they tank or not; winning more than 4 games is highly unlikely. BTW- David Fales is not on the roster and is a Free Agent. They signed Jake Rudock and have Luke Falk. Who knows if Falk can even play… maybe they get lucky. He would rank higher than Daniel Jones from Duke and Drew Lock from Missou in this years Draft.

Luke Falk is an elite QB and David Fales is a solid pro. Both are better than anyone the Dolphins have been playing the last few years. They’re both better than Fitzpatrick too. Sometimes guys like Tom Brady, a sixth round pick, and Kurt Warner, an undrafted free agent who bounced around from league to league, get an opportunity. Most of the time they don’t. It’s impossible to judge guys from practice reps or getting on the field for a couple plays. If you’re a high draft pick like Tannehill, you usually get several opportunities.
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You saying Falk is elite and Fales is a solid pro means i now have no doubt neither one could even be an average starter.

Fitzpatrick is a mistake. He’s good enough to win 5-7 games. That’s a problem when we want the first overall pick. 5 wins last year got you the 5th, 6th or 7th pick in the draft. You can kiss Tua goodbye if we win 5 games. And we’d have to give up picks to move up to try and get Fromm or Herbert and there is no guarantee we could trade up. Should have just played one of the inexperienced QBs on the roster. Give them a year to learn the system while playing. Go 0-16. Take Tua. Make that QB the backup. Then we are set at the QB position for at least a decade.

nfl1818 says:
March 17, 2019 at 3:20 pm
has a less reliable QB ever made more $$

hilarious and a poor tanking strategy – good for 5-7 wins
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Getting 5-7 wins out of Tannehill previously would cost you $17,500,000
Getting 5-7 wins out of Fitz previously would cost you $3,300,000

charliecharger says:
March 17, 2019 at 2:51 pm
Luke Falk is an elite QB and David Fales is a solid pro. Both are better than anyone the Dolphins have been playing the last few years. They’re both better than Fitzpatrick too. Sometimes guys like Tom Brady, a sixth round pick, and Kurt Warner, an undrafted free agent who bounced around from league to league, get an opportunity. Most of the time they don’t. It’s impossible to judge guys from practice reps or getting on the field for a couple plays. If you’re a high draft pick like Tannehill, you usually get several opportunities.

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You lost me when you put Luke Falk and elite QB into the same sentence.

I dont get people saying Fitz has a “noodle arm”.
Clearly you don’t watch football.
His arm is not a rocket arm by any means but it also is by NO means weak.
In fact that is his biggest weakness… Trusting his arm TOO much and throwing into tight coverage.
Only a couple qbs in the league have arms like Favre, Rodgers, Rivers, Mahommes.
Everyone else is about the same.

Fitzpatrick is a pretty good signing for the Dolphins esp at the price they go him. I’d rather have Fitz than Tannehill, Fitz is a low level starter who catch’s fire for a few weeks every once in a while. If the Phins move up and draft a QB in this years draft Fitz would be the perfect stop-gap/mentor veteran QB for a young passer.

I really don’t hate this signing. Miami is clearly looking to either draft a future QB this draft or make it through this season and go after another one next season. This upcoming season is going to be a wash anyway. Just beat the Jets and Gase 2 times and that is all the wins I care about.
He single handedly destroyed this franchise in the few seasons he here. The Jets will see the same thing except the media in NY will eat him up and spit him out.

That said, what someone above said is correct. His arm gets weaker as the season goes on. Those beautiful bombs he threw to DeSean Jackson and Mike Evans early last year were underthrown incompletions knocked away by defensive backs later in the year. He’s better as a fill-in starter for a few games than someone you’re counting on for the whole season.

I like Chris Grier but this is getting confusing. Tua won’t be the answer for everyone who thinks that’s who the fins want. Tua is left handed and has a slow delivery (kellen moore comes to mind). Fins have sucked for over 2 decades now I guess another few years won’t hurt. Fitz will literally throw the ball into triple coverage. Fitz had a better roster with the bucs and couldn’t beat out Jameis. It’s going to be a rough year. 3-13 here we come.

FitzMagic?
More like FitzTragic!
This guy gives mediocre a bad name.
He looks like Dan Marino one game, and Ryan Leaf the next. Osweiler is the same way. Might as well of kept him.
Hopefully Luke Falk or Jake Ruddock win the starting job.

So many people here are tauting Fitzpatrick as a good QB and excited that he is better than Tannehill. What you are not getting is that we don’t want a good QB this year. We want to tank to get a real franchise QB in next years draft. Haven’t you been paying attention????

I have felt for some time now, since he was with the Bills, that he is a very smart QB. He just can’t consistently make all the plays. But he does know where to go with the ball. I think when he is ready to hang it up ( and maybe that time has already come) that he will make and excellent QB coach and eventually offensive coordinator.

No way they’re paying Fitz 11 million plus possibly 6 – 9 million more in incentives to ride pine. He is starting for Miami this year. And also there’s a good chance he will deliver from time to time. If they sign a couple of decent free agents to continue the Miami Patriots build.

Smart move by Miami. 11 mil for 2 years plus incentives saves a lot of money to rebuild. They should totally pass on this years QB class and draft for other needs instead. Go for a QB in 2020, forget Kyler Murray. I think he has too much bust potential.

There’s a lot of work to be done there in Miami. Looks like you’re the odds on favorite to be the next team to attempt what the Browns did in 2015. If so, it will be painful to watch but in the end the fans will see that stripping it down to the studs is what was needed. Maybe your club doesn’t do it so dramatically. Good luck, Phins fans.

TruthfulDolphinsFanNotWearingBlinders says:
No drop off whatsoever from Tannehill.
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Except that Tannehill in his career has a better winning percentage, better completion percentage, better QB rating, lower interception rate, more 4th-quarter comebacks (in a shorter career) and more rushing yards per attempt. But, yeah, other than those stats, Fitzpatrick is no drop-off from Tannehill.

This is actually a great signing. The biggest problem with Fitzpatrick is being on flaky teams that try to change horses every time things get a little bumpy. Imagine the Pats pulling Brady every time the team starts a season slow, or the Steelers pulling Ben when they have a mid-season lull. Good teams don’t do it, which is how good QBs are built.

He’s now the 2nd-best QB in the division and if Miami is smart, they’ll keep him in as starter all season, drafting a 1st-round QB and giving him time to develop. Lock seems like a good choice for this scenario.

Miami has a chance to build something good here – a solid veteran provides cover for a rookie to have a good start, and then they’ll have money to spend on lineman and a few skill players in drafts and free agency to come.

Except that Tannehill in his career has a better winning percentage, better completion percentage, better QB rating, lower interception rate, more 4th-quarter comebacks (in a shorter career) and more rushing yards per attempt. But, yeah, other than those stats, Fitzpatrick is no drop-off from Tannehill.
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Fitzpatrick has been on some truly dreadful teams in his career (one of the better ones was his stint in Tennessee, if that gives you an idea), whereas Tannehill played on several teams that make the playoffs with even a mediocre QB. It’s real easy to have better completion %, lower INT average, and a better QB rating when you throw 3 yard check downs and bubble screens 30 times a game. As for the rushing average, that’s probably because Fitz has actually been in a victory formation, unlike Tannehill. Fitzpatrick also has more 400 yard games, 4 TD games, taken less safeties, and has actually had good games against good teams, unlike Tannehill.